Charles Wesley, a Prisoner of Hope

S T Kimbrough

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English

Cascade Books
06 October 2025

History of religion; Christianity; Methodist Churches; Christian worship, rites & ceremonies; Christian life & practice

Series: Cascade Companions

Although Charles Wesley is known primarily as a distinguished English-language hymn writer and joint leader with his brother John of the Methodist reform movement within the Church of England, this book examines how the struggles and difficulties he faced as a child and as an adult shaped the person he was ever becoming. It explores how he was shaped by the love and conflicts of his family, conversion, the struggles of the Wesleyan movement within itself and within the Church of England, of marriage, parenthood, outreach to the poor, Scripture, the Book of Common Prayer, and the vows taken at his ordination. How did these struggles and the gospel itself mold the language of his hymns, theology, preaching, and daily life? How he dealt with them as a brother, pastor, husband, father, and friend is vitally important for pastors today and very valuable for an understanding of his hymns and poems. Charles called himself a prisoner of hope whom ""God is able to save to the uttermost, to break my bonds in sunder and bring deliverance to the captive."" A study of his struggles and how he dealt with them no longer lets us refer to him merely as ""the hymn writer.""

By: S T Kimbrough
Imprint: Cascade Books
Country of Publication: United States
Dimensions: Height: 203mm, Width: 127mm, Spine: 13mm
Weight: 231g
ISBN: 9798385242979
Series: Cascade Companions
Pages: 230
Publication Date: 06 October 2025
Audience: General/trade , ELT Advanced
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Active

S T Kimbrough, Jr. holds a PhD from Princeton Theological Seminary and is currently a research fellow of the Center for Studies in the Wesleyan Tradition at Duke Divinity School. He has taught on leading theological faculties in the US and Europe. He has published numerous books with Wipf and Stock including The Lyrical Theology of Charles Wesley; Partakers of the Life Divine, which addresses Charles Wesley's thought and that of Eastern Orthodoxy; and many books of poems, e.g., Ancient Wisdom in Modern Verse.

Reviews for Charles Wesley, a Prisoner of Hope

""This book intensely and thoroughly explores the influences that shaped the life and ministry of Charles Wesley. This poetic journey gets the reader identifying the factors that shape one's own life and ministry. The power and witness of Charles Wesley took place in 'the real world.' This wide-ranging review becomes a source of life-shaping reflection."" --F. Belton Joyner Jr., Instructor, Duke Divinity School Course of Study ""In this new study of Charles Wesley, S T Kimbrough Jr. provides a uniquely human portrait of the Methodist co-founder. He invites us into the crucible of the challenges and conflicts Wesley faced in life. In all things, the hymnwriter remained a prisoner of hope. Kimbrough's analysis, as always, is thoughtful, profound, and wise. No Wesley portrait is complete without the insights of this volume. A must read."" --Paul W. Chilcote, Research Fellow, Wesley House, Cambridge ""Thankfully, we live in a moment when the legacy of Charles Wesley is being appreciated more and more on its own terms and in important distinction from his august sibling. S T Kimbrough Jr. provides readers with a helpful account of this legacy, drawing from the wells of his many years of study and scholarship on this 'lyrical theologian' of highest order. Students and scholars alike will considerably benefit from this accessible work that focuses on one of the most important founders of Methodism."" --Daniel Castelo, Wiliam Kellon Quick Professor of Theology and Methodist Studies, Duke Divinity School ""S T Kimbrough's Charles Wesley: A Prisoner of Hope offers an introduction to the life and work of Charles Wesley for seminarians and others, grounded in Kimbrough's vast knowledge of the Charles Wesley source material. I am so pleased we have this well written, insightful distillation of a career of deep study in Charles Wesley's poetry and other writings. This is a treasure for all who want to understand the Wesleyan way of being Christian in great depth!"" --Ted A. Campbell, Emeritus Albert C. Outler Professor of Wesley Studies and Church History, Perkins School of Theology